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Remembering D-Day
June 6 marks the anniversary of that Day of Days in 1944 when the Allies began the historic invasion of Nazi-occupied France. At great cost in blood and treasure, and with no certainty of victory, the armies, navies, and air forces of the free world concentrated their efforts in a heroic attempt to get a foothold in coastal France from which to repel the Nazi invaders.
We all know how that ended but on the eve of the invasion things looked grim enough that General Dwight D. Eisenhower prepared a statement for release in the event the invasion failed. Here is a roundup of some excellent links to remind us of the bravery, heroism, and sacrifice of those men — mostly very young men — who laid it all on the line on this day 72 years ago so that others might live free.
Order of the Day issued by Gen. Eisenhower on D-Day. It reads in part:
You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on other Fronts you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.
Eisenhower’s hand-written draft of a statement announcing, and taking personal responsibility for, the failure of the invasion. Thankfully, he never had to act on that contingency.
In 2004, Tom Selleck played Eisenhower in the A&E movie Ike: Countdown to D-Day. One of the most memorable scenes of the movie depicted the Supreme Commander visiting paratroopers on the eve of the invasion.
Unless you watched the movie The Longest Day, (one of the great WWII movies by the way) or are a history buff, you may not know that Gen. Theodore Roosevelt Jr., son of the iconic former president Teddy Roosevelt and relative of then-current president Franklin D. Roosevelt, fought in both WWI and WWII and led the D-Day landing at Utah Beach.
The American Battle Monuments Commission operates 25 American military cemeteries in 16 foreign nations. The Normandy American Cemetery is the final resting place of 9,387 American heroes, many of whom died on beaches not far from where they were laid to rest.
In case you are wondering, no, Google is not commemorating D-Day on their home page.
In fact, a search of the Google Doodle archive reveals that they have never done so. They did, however, commemorate on June 6, 2012 the 79th anniversary of the first drive-in movie so at least we have that.
But then who really needs a Google commemoration when we have a perfectly suitable one from President Reagan? In 1984 Reagan commemorated the 40th anniversary of the Normandy invasion. To this day his remarks stand as one of the greatest tributes to that day and those men. A snippet below and a full transcript at the link.
We stand on a lonely, windswept point on the northern shore of France. The air is soft, but 40 years ago at this moment, the air was dense with smoke and the cries of men, and the air was filled with the crack of rifle fire and the roar of cannon. At dawn, on the morning of the 6th of June, 1944, 225 Rangers jumped off the British landing craft and ran to the bottom of these cliffs. Their mission was one of the most difficult and daring of the invasion: to climb these sheer and desolate cliffs and take out the enemy guns. The Allies had been told that some of the mightiest of these guns were here and they would be trained on the beaches to stop the Allied advance.
The Rangers looked up and saw the enemy soldiers — the edge of the cliffs shooting down at them with machine guns and throwing grenades. And the American Rangers began to climb. They shot rope ladders over the face of these cliffs and began to pull themselves up. When one Ranger fell, another would take his place. When one rope was cut, a Ranger would grab another and begin his climb again. They climbed, shot back, and held their footing. Soon, one by one, the Rangers pulled themselves over the top, and in seizing the firm land at the top of these cliffs, they began to seize back the continent of Europe. Two hundred and twenty-five came here. After 2 days of fighting, only 90 could still bear arms.
There are a number of great WWII movies that do a fantastic job of depicting the Normandy invasion. Among my favorites is Band of Brothers. Yes, it’s a mini-series and not a movie but let’s not quibble about that. There aren’t many movies or TV series that I can watch multiple times. Band of Brothers is one of the few that I can watch often without tiring of it.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt took to the airwaves on the night of the invasion to speak to the nation and to offer up a prayer he wrote entitled Let Our Hearts Be Stout. You can read and listen to it in its entirety at the link, but here is a snippet to entice you over there.
Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity.
Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith.
They will need Thy blessings. Their road will be long and hard. For the enemy is strong. He may hurl back our forces. Success may not come with rushing speed, but we shall return again and again; and we know that by Thy grace, and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph.
They will be sore tried, by night and by day, without rest — until the victory is won. The darkness will be rent by noise and flame. Men’s souls will be shaken with the violences of war.
For these men are lately drawn from the ways of peace. They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate. They fight to let justice arise, and tolerance and goodwill among all Thy people. They yearn but for the end of battle, for their return to the haven of home.
Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom.
The 2001 book, War Letters, by Andrew Carroll offers a collection of letters by soldiers from every major American conflict from the Civil War through Operation Desert Storm as well as a few from Somalia and Bosnia. It’s well worth picking up a copy.
There are many more articles, stories, speeches, and commemorations that could be linked here. I’ll leave you with just one more, a collection of letters written by men who participated in the D-Day invasion. Some of them did not make it home.
D-Day is not alone among the heroic battles which should be commemorated and memorialized, but it is one of the most iconic battles to turn the tide not only of a war but of world history. Many of you probably have your own favorite D-Day related links. Please share them in the comments!
Published in History, Military
Thank you for this post. We must have had the same thought … ‘how could there not be a D-Day conversation on June 6’? And while compiling mine I did not take the time to re-check whether one had been posted or not.
There is also a “real time” WW2 in 1944 Twitter feed. You don’t need a Twitter account to see it. Here it is:
Tweets by RealTimeWWII
This video is from the American Battle Monuments Commission website. Saw it while touring Pointe Du Hoc last fall. It only takes a few minutes.
https://www.abmc.gov/multimedia/videos/stories-pointe-du-hoc
Enjoyed your D-Day post. Hard to see June 6 come and go with relatively few mentions. Seems like it’s one that always gets mentioned on the fives but the 75th anniversary is still three years away. Wonder how many of these men will be left by then…
On the 26th May 1944, just over 72 years ago, my father was transferred from detention in the Netherlands to Dachau Concentration Camp. When those gallant young men (and those following them) who threw themselves into the terrible fight on the beaches had fought their way across Europe, they liberated Dachau nearly a year later, on 29th April, 1945. My father always said that it was in the nick of time for him.
There are no words enough to thank those who fought, and those who continue to defend liberty.
Wow, what an amazing personal connection to history. Glad that your dad made it out alive.
Thanks for remembering, even if Google doesn’t.
My Dad was at D-Day, eighteen years old. Navy. He was standing right about at the location of the photographer in your picture. I would call him every year and just say thanks or exchange a few words. He really didn’t want to talk about it much, or at all.
He died in February, and so I called my Mom. She told me he said that all of the men in his boat were crying with fear on the way over.
He served in Europe for awhile and then was transferred to the Pacific theater. He was discharged in 1946.
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/mcall/obituary.aspx?pid=177783401
how on earth have I missed this? thank you.
And less than 2 weeks later the US Navy put 71,000 Marines and soldiers ashore on Saipan in the Marianas half a world away. Not one of the hundreds of ships and landing craft were involved in the Normandy assault. The US Military effort in WWI was truly ENORMOUS.
As I have every D-Day, I pay tribute to my father. He flew a B-26 over Utah beach, and survived many, many combat missions over Germany, but the War left invisible wounds that would never heal. He died 49 years ago, on June 6, 1967. RIP, dad. Thank you for giving us freedom.
I’m glad for the post and for the comments. If D-Day is not the most important day of the twentieth century, it’s certainly up there. (I think I would name it number one.) It deserves to be remembered and honored.
Thank you for giving us this comment. It’s hard to believe that the country does so little to commemorate D-Day. Speaking of WWII movies and D-Day, the first 20 minutes or so of Saving Private Ryan are the most bone-chilling and realistic recreation of D-Day that any of us will ever see. Well worth watching to help comprehend what the soldiers went through that day.
I got the link to this in my Truth Revolt newsletter today. I did a short post over at RushBabe49.com.
The post, that clip from A&E’s Ike and reading Robert Dammers’ comment brought tears to my eyes. Thanks.
On June 7, as the world learned of the landing at Normandy, a New York Times editorial said: “We have come to the hour for which we were born.” That sentence says volumes. Imagine the Times saying such a thing today.
Another very good book about D-Day that I found insightful is a work of fiction: Disaster at D-Day: The Germans Defeat the Allies, June 1944.
It’s not just a work of alternative fiction (aliens do not attack); it’s written by a military historian and former Army officer. It sticks to the overall situation but changes a few details(e.g., it moves up panzer units that were due to arrive a few weeks later, Rommel does not go home because his wife has the flu, etc.) and how that affects chance and outcomes. It gives you a real appreciation of how Normandy was a close-run fight and could easily have turned out differently.